A Little Piece of Heaven
by RB Cherub
Summary: Torchwood investigate a "haunted" hotel, and both Gwen and Jack get a taste of their hearts' desire...


A Little Piece of Heaven 

Ianto parked the SUV perfectly at the roadside, giving the car in front more than enough room to back out. He, Gwen and Jack got out of the stealth-black trouble magnet, and walked round to open the trunk.

'Okay, let's recap. The hotel closed a year ago after everyone inside committed suicide on the same night, which happened to be its first night of business.'

'And it's taken us this long to follow it up?' Gwen was her usual critical self.

Jack shrugged. 'Everyone steered clear of the place, and we had other things on our hands.'

'I put it at the top of his "To-Do" list.' Ianto opened the catches on the case, opened it up, and handed Jack and Gwen a rift scanner each.

Jack took a breath, put on his authorative, leader shtick. 'Okay, Ianto, you stay here with the SUV, use the remote link to the Hub to scan for rift-spikes. Gwen, you're with me. If _anyone_ sees any_thing _out of the ordinary, or you start feeling depressed, get out. Let's go.'

Jack had been given a key to the place by the owners, but still had to kick the door in.

'Ooh.' Gwen groaned as she stepped inside. Jack wheeled round, worried.

'You okay?'

'This is the worst bloody décor I've ever seen.' Gwen wrinkled her nose.

Jack didn't care much for it either, but he could sense there was something amiss there. Deciding against splitting up, he and Gwen picked a corridor and started down it.

The place was large and labyrinthine; rows of identical wooden doors, small tables and standardised art.

Jack stopped dead in his tracks, listening. Gwen stopped as well, as quiet as she could.

They had reached a corner, and Jack was sure there was someone just around it.

Glancing back at Gwen, he held up three fingers. A three-count later, they both made their move.

Nothing.

Aiming his gun away from anything vital, he began down the adjoining corridor, reaching yet another corner. Stepping out, he called 'hello?'

Gwen saw him bolt, dashing down the next corridor. By the time she had gotten to the corner, he was out of sight.

The tails of his coat billowed behind him as he ran, following a flash of black. Whatever it was, it was fast. Almost as fast as he was. Wheeling around yet another corner, Jack skidded to a halt.

Standing before him, blocking the corridor, was Captain Jack Harkness.

Jack kept his gun to hand as he approached, slowly. He watched himself, with just as much curiosity.

The slightest trace of a smile reached Jack's lips. He- the other Jack- was standing in the corridor in a snugly fitting black dress tuxedo.

Close enough to reach out and touch it, Jack sniffed the air, and smelt his own 51st century pheromones, coming from his double. His double caught Jack's scent as well, and moved forward.

Instinctively, Jack threw out a hand. It connected with the other Jack's shoulder, and they both looked down at it, then up into each other's eyes. They both suddenly sparkled with a mischievous lust.

Grinning, Jack holstered his Webley, grabbed his counterpart, and pushed him into the wall, kissing him ferociously.

It was one of the weirdest experiences of his extended life: snogging himself, tasting himself and finally knowing what he'd been missing out on all his adult life.

As each groped and caressed the other, Jack and his doppelganger both groaned with enthusiasm, just as Gwen rounded the corner.

'Whoa!' Gwen spun around, hand up to shield her eyes. 'Fuck'sake, Jack!'

Jack looked back at Gwen, and slipped his hand out of his doppelganger's pressed black trousers.

'Oh, come on. Wouldn't you?' he asked, wiping his own saliva from his mouth.

Gwen pressed a finger to her ear. 'Ianto, I found him. Sort of.'

'_What do you mean, sort of?_' Ianto sounded worried.

Jack gave himself one last pat to the crotch. 'Maybe later.' He grinned impishly.

'Sorry.'

Jack stumbled back on his coat, recoiling as the man in the tuxedo vanished, exploding into a glowing cloud of smoke and stardust.

Instantly regaining his cool and composure, Jack sighed. 'Oh, well. Let's go. Ianto! Do we have anything new?'

'_Not yet, sir… stand by… rift spike, coming from the dance hall. Building fast!_'

'This way.' Jack nodded his head, and he and Gwen sped down the corridor.

Gwen's heart was pounding in her chest; she told herself she had to lay off the pizza and renew her gym membership as she tried to keep up with Jack, who seemed barely out of breath.

'_Almost there, next right._' Ianto's disembodied voice said to both of them. Jack went wide, and Gwen caught up with him as he turned the corner, so they were neck and neck as they ran to the dance hall, slowing to a fast walk as they took position on either side of the closed double door.

Jack drew his Webley Mk IV, Gwen her Colt M1911T. Jack nodded, and each took a door handle.

The doors flew open, followed by Captain Jack Harkness and Police Constable Gwen Cooper.

In a split second, each had marked half a dozen potential targets, and aimed at them each in turn, assessed them and moved on.

Nothing out of the ordinary.

Jack lowered his revolver, but kept the safety off. Gwen lowered both her hands, her semi-automatic in a firm grip, but her finger shifted away from the trigger.

'Ianto?' Jack said, the pitch of his voice rising with the "o".

'_I'm still registering something, but the Hub's having a hard time trying to work out what._'

Jack inwardly sighed. He missed Toshiko, and was still angry at himself for losing her. And Owen. 'Okay.' He said, and Gwen could hear the weariness in his voice. 'Keep 'em peeled. Let's take a look around.'

They slowly walked around the deserted dancehall. Deserted save for the tables, chairs and leatherette sofas: Gwen reasoned they were having a more quiet social gathering on their last night on Earth. The floor was also dotted with the outlines left by the coroners; wood splinters and the desiccated remnants of whatever was being served. The smell was enough, but she did her best to ignore it.

'Hey.' Jack called. Gwen looked over.

Jack had reached a small door, apparently leading to the kitchen. 'I'm gonna stick my nose in. Hopefully it won't get bitten off. Will you be okay?'

Gwen nodded. 'Sure.'

Jack disappeared through the door with a flick of his greatcoat. Walking to a window, Gwen glanced out of it, and saw nothing of the ordinary.

'Mummy?'

Gwen wheeled round, her finger snapping to the trigger. Nothing. Shouldering her handgun, she took some perverse comfort from its weight and solidity.

'Jack?'

No answer. Gwen began to walk toward the door, her senses stretched to their extremes. She could have sworn blind that someone was there.

'Mummy?'

Gwen jumped, and span around.

The girl stood in the kitchen doorway, rubbing her eyes. Gwen set down the book she'd been reading and knelt down.

'What's the matter, sweetheart?'

The girl looked up, glum. 'I had a bad dream.'

'Aww. Come here.' Gwen held her arms out, and she went to her. Gwen hugged her daughter tightly, warmly, the way only a mother can.

'When's Daddy coming home?' she asked, and Gwen sighed. She was missing him as well.

'He'll be home soon, baby.'

Gwen walked her daughter up to her room, tucked her in and kissed her goodnight. Pulling her bedroom door to, she quietly snuck into her son's bedroom to check on him. He was sleeping peacefully, clutching an Action Man Uncle Ianto had bought him for Christmas. Gwen knelt down at his bedside and kissed his forehead.

Closing his door, Gwen sighed, wishing he, their father, would come home soon. They all got a little glum whenever he had to travel. Not in the mood to finish her book, Gwen went to bed herself, holding onto his pillow as she slept.

Morning came as morning does, and Gwen was woken by both her children, standing by her bedside. Gwen knew by looking at them that they were missing their father, just as she was.

'Tell you what.' Gwen smiled, hugging both of them tightly. 'Let's watch a movie together.'

After a little argument, they chose a DVD and Gwen set it up. Getting back into bed, she put an arm around each of her children. They were both soon asleep again, and Gwen smiled down at them. Her beautiful children. Awkwardly, she wiped a tear from her eye, overcome with happiness.

She could have stayed there forever, watching dopey DVDs with her babies, wrapped up in a warm bed.

Gwen had fallen asleep herself when she heard the front door open, and a familiar voice call

'Honey, I'm home!'

Gwen gasped, as did the children. They threw the duvet off themselves and ran out the door. With the hammering of little feet on stairs in her ears, Gwen got out of bed, giving herself a split-second check in the mirror as she walked out onto the landing.

Her smile broadened as she saw him, hugging and kissing their children. Picking up their son and holding him in the crook of his arm, his other hand on his daughter's shoulder, he looked up at her, and smiled.

Gwen smiled back, her jaw trembling. He beckoned, and their son slid slowly down to the floor as she went to him. They stood, holding each other for a long, wonderful moment. Then he knelt down between their children and told them they'd be back up in a minute, and to pick another movie. As they ran back upstairs, he watched them go.

'We made some beautiful kids.' He smiled.

Gwen took his hand, held it and thought about never letting go. 'I love you.'

'I love you too, Gwen… Gwen?'

'Gwen!' Jack shouted, running toward her as she stood, her hand outstretched, smiling up at thin air.

Gwen blinked, and gasped. A long, quivering breath, and she sank to her knees, sobbing. Jack holstered his Webley, kneeling down at her side as she cried. He quickly took the Colt from her hand, remembering the mass suicide.

'Oh, God… please, no…' Gwen rocked back and forth, crying and sobbing, holding herself and trembling. Jack slowly and carefully put his arms around her, and told her it would be okay.

'Ianto, we're coming out. Get the medkit and that thermos ready.'

As he carefully helped Gwen to her feet, Jack glanced up, and did a double take, staring up at the chandelier. It was an unusual design for a building of that age, and the metal in the middle didn't look right. For the planet.

Gwen first.

Keeping his hold of her, he slowly walked her out of the hall, and the hotel.

Gwen sat on the tailgate of the SUV, wrapped in a tartan blanket and holding a plastic mug of Ianto's soothing tea, standard issue on road trips along with his industrial strength coffee.

'I… I was lying at home, with my children… it was so real… I knew them, I remembered them being born, their first day at school… at least, I did… I…' She sobbed again, shivering even in the blanket. 'It was so real…but now I can't remember… Oh, God…'

Jack nodded his head, and Ianto smiled warmly with a nod before walking round the SUV to talk quietly with Jack.

'She's not crazy.'

'Never crossed my mind.' Ianto replied.

Jack looked back at the hotel. 'Stay here. I'll be back in ten minutes. If I _do_ end up capping myself, I'll be a little longer, but _don't _follow me.' Picking up a large containment case, he winked at Ianto and started back toward the hotel.

Gwen closed her eyes, tried to remember the children's faces. Their names. But everything she had seen, heard, _felt_, was slipping away from her. Her hands began to shake, spilling hot tea over them. She gasped in pain and dropped the cup. Ianto was there in a flash with a towel.

'Where's Jack?'

'He went back in. I think he's worked it all out. Are you alright?'

Gwen closed her eyes again, desperately trying to remember something, anything…

'They deserve to be remembered.' She said suddenly. 'They're gone. Everything, it's just… gone.' She raked her hands through her hair, clutching it in fists. 'They were _my children… and I don't even remember their names._'

Ianto sat down beside her, carefully put his arm around her. There was nothing he could think of that would be helpful. Trying to explain that they were never there certainly wouldn't be.

Jack reappeared eight minutes later, dragging the containment case behind him. Ianto and Gwen helped him lift it into the back of the SUV.

'We have to get this back to the hub and neutralise it.' Jack was saying; 'Then this should all be over.

Back at the Hub, they took the case, and the large piece of metal within, to the part of the complex reserved for the most powerful of artefacts; those most dangerous. Once it had been locked securely away, Jack asked them to join him in his office.

'The Doctor told me about it while we were… travelling. He told me about this ancient spaceship, the _Infinite._ I thought it was just a legend, a fairy tale. But what do I know.

'It was said that the _Infinite_ had the power to grant your heart's desire.' Jack poured them each a drink. Gwen sat on the edge of Jack's desk, while Ianto stood against the wall. 'In truth, the entire ship was saturated with residual psychic energy. Ancient energy that doesn't even have a name, but can show you a glimpse of your heart's desire.

'The Doctor destroyed the ship, shattered it into a million pieces. Some of the wreckage must have fallen through the rift and landed at the Hotel. They had it made into the chandelier, and the psychic energy of all those people was just enough to make it work.

'So they all got a glimpse of heaven.' Ianto said, picking up his glass. 'Why did they all commit suicide?'

'When I realised that none of what I'd seen was real, I seriously considered it.' Gwen said, holding her glass with both hands. 'It was so real.' She said softly. Jack nodded.

'As far as you were concerned, it was. And losing everything in a split second can do horrible things to a person. Believe me, I know. That's why I had to get you out as soon as possible, and tackle it alone. I'm sorry for putting you through that.'

Gwen nodded with a thin smile.

Jack downed his drink in one. Ianto and Gwen lingered a little. 'But', the Captain said, 'with luck, and maybe a little nudge from Leo, the hotel can start up again. We'll keep an eye on it, but I don't think they'll be any problems now.'

It was getting late, and Gwen had already gotten three messages from Rhys. She sat on the couch, looking up at the shimmering surface of the obelisk.

Ianto sat down beside her, and set a cup of coffee down on the table. Gwen smiled, and picked it up.

'You okay?' he asked her. Gwen nodded slowly. 'Yeah.'

They sat silently, listening to the Hub, the computers and the tide. Gwen slumped sideways, her head on Ianto's shoulder.

'It really was perfect…' Gwen said softly, 'but the thing that really worries me…'

'What?' Ianto asked softly.

Gwen was silent for a moment. 'I don't know whether the… the father… I don't know if it was Rhys… or Jack.'


End file.
